The Serious Progress in the UN

Over the course of the last three days the UN has done two important things, one of which is far more significant than the other, but both of which bear merit and deserve to be lauded.

Let's start with the Security Council resolution that requires Syria to turn over and destroy all of its chemical weapons and materials for producing those weapons within a year. I've previously lambasted the Russian proposal - it's still a disingenuous cop out - but I must say that I'm cautiously optimistic about the Security Council Resolution though it is terribly lax.

The bad news is that the Security Council Resolution is toothless. If Syria fails to comply, the Security Council can consider talking about taking action...it's that tough. However, early indications are that Syria will comply, and at least the Security Council agreed to something legally binding. Small steps, but steps. Although as The Economist and I have both pointed out, even the prompt and full removal of all chemical weapons does nothing to stop bloodshed that has been driven by conventional weapons.

Despite my reservations, I do support the resolution, and I hope it will be implemented swiftly and successfully. Perhaps it will open the door to other communication that will help end the fighting.

But onto what may be the more important of the two events: a UN Climate Panel formally set an upper limit at which the world needs to stop emitting carbon gases or really, irreversibly screw things up. This is pretty substantial even if it's somewhat inexact and the science is evolving. The people who do this for a living are telling us that we need to somehow get cleaner and quickly. According to the report, 2040 is the year we will probably hit the limit at the rate we're going. That's not so distant.

I've long advocated for clean and renewable energy in this blog, and I think it is a true travesty that we haven't started addressing this problem at a natural level sooner. It's not only necessary for our survival, but would be an enormous economic boon upon which someone else will capitalize if we do not.

I am encouraged by the UN's work, but I do hope to see further action on both of these issues in the immediate future. The crisis in Syria must come to an end soon before more blood is shed and the region becomes even more dangerous and unstable. Furthermore, immediate action on climate change is long overdue. I hope that Congress will use the recent UN report to finally make encouraging clean and alternative energy a serious priority.